masters wont let you make more in a lot of cases, because while you spend 2 years studying and learning, i spend 2 years making contacts, designing, and generally moving up the ladder. when you come back to the workforce you still have to start at the E1 level. Unless you can get your company to pay for your masters, i dont think its really worth it now a days. I can only speak for civil though.
And i work in the highest cost of living area outside of NYC in the country and i make a base salary of $52/year, but with overtime i make about $65/year.
The job market sucks, you gotta get what you can. everyone has that friend that is making $90+/year right out of college, but that is the exception, certainly not the rule.
Engineering isnt a good way to become rich. it has a really high floor, but a really low cieling compared to carreers in finance and buisness. thats why the only people making skrill in Engineering are the folks dealing with the buisness side; dealing with clients and bringing in new jobs. In about 3 years i will be making more than a bunch of 40 and 50 year olds in my company because i am not a technical person, and the upper managment sees that and envision a specific carreer path for me. the problem is, you have to learn and be baller at the technical side before you can go to the buisness side.
YOu gotta take what you can get, because experience is sooooooo valuable. i spent the first 3 months of my job feeling ridiculously stupid and lost. its only after about 4-5 months that i now feel productive and dont need my hand held constantly.